LIFE OF MARS.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 14 August 1912, Page 2

LIFE OF MARS.

M. Perrier, of the French Natural History Museum, ha s~ been giving in the "Matin" his ideas of the inhabitants 'of the planet Mars. He is complimentary. "The low atmospheric pressure," he says, "has produced a considerable development of the lungs, and consequently the general character of these beings has been influenced by the great difference beftveen the atmospheric conditions on Mars and that on our earth. . . One may imagine that the men pf Mars are all the greater in si2e because the rorce of gravity there is slight, and that they are light-hair-ed because the daylight is not so intense as with us. With perhaps less powerful limbs, they may resemble our Scandanavian type, though probably with a larger skull."

So M Perrier pictures a blue-eyed, long-nosed, heavy-eared being, with a huge head, bulky chest, spindle limbs, and no waist worth speaking of. As for the psychology and phylogeny of the Martian world, M. Perrier does not stop to discuss such material questions as the canal system of the planet, but says that he believes that the inhabitants of Mars are kind-heart, ed, that the animals have no fear of their masters, and that the Martians are acquainted with the noblest delights of the intellect, and with the most suave emotions of the soul.

M. Perrier believes, among ' other things, that "the year on t)he planet Mars lasts twice as long as the year on our earth, and consequently plants and insects have twice the time in which to evolve —consequently longgrass, huge fruit, and instinct so much more perfect as the length of existence develops the intelligence. Birds have a luxurient plumage, are large in size, and brightly coloured, and have reached a perfection of form unknown to us. Mars is the land of huge plants and ideal flowers, of birds abnormally powerful in song and wondrous appearance, and of four-footed animals with extraordinarily developed" fur and skin. The animals are light in in weight, slimly built, swift of foot, and bears have an appearance not unlike that of greyhounds."